WESTVILLE — Two years ago as the state’s top-ranked team, the Salt Fork Storm felt as though they had an expectation to live up to every time they stepped onto a basketball court. Teams were gunning for them, wanting to be able to say they defeated the eventual Class 1A state champions.

All of the Storm’s opponents entered the contest as the underdog just itching to play spoiler. But this year, the Storm find themselves playing a different role.

Despite picking up their 20th win on Tuesday defeating the Westville Tigers 41-24 in a quarterfinal game of the Class 2A Westville Regional, Salt Fork (20-9) feels as though it might be this year’s underdog hoping to play spoiler.

Salt Fork is seeded third in the regional but will next face No. 2 St. Joseph-Ogden with top-seeded and Class 2A seventh-ranked Bismarck-Henning waiting on the other side of the bracket.

“There are some really good teams left in this tournament,” Salt Fork coach Aaron Hird said. “It’s different this year for us in that in years past, we felt like we needed to play well to prove that what we had done in the regular season wasn’t just a fluke. We felt like the teams we played a lot of times had a chance to play spoiler.

“I think that one of the things that we have talked about this year is, we have a chance to play with nothing to lose, really,” he continued. “If you lose one of those games, I think people think, ‘Well, they’re supposed to. They’re the No. 3 seed.’ If you’re able to play well and win a game, you surprise some people.”

Salt Fork has played against Bismarck-Henning and St. Joseph-Ogden once each this season, losing both games. The Storm fell to the Blue Devils 50-27 on Valentine’s Day, and dropped a 45-24 decision to the Spartans in their fourth game of the season.

But it was the fourth time they had faced the Westville Tigers (13-16), and for the fourth time, Salt Fork left with the win.

Storm sophomore center Max Stutsman had game highs in points (15) and rebounds (12), and made it difficult for the inexperienced Tigers to do much on the offensive glass. Nine of Stutsman’s rebounds were on his defensive end while Westville managed a total of only 14 rebounds in the game.

“I just feel like I have to crash the boards,” said the 6-foot-4 sophomore. “I get a lot of my points off of offensive rebounds because I can crash and put it back up. My guards were doing a good job of finding me.”

The Storm never trailed and led by as many as 17. Westville junior Robert Elliott led the Tigers with 12 points and five rebounds.

“We just knew we had to come in and play good defense,” Stutsman said. “They kind of like to stall. We just had to play good defense. The Elliott kid can find a way to score, so we had to stop him.”

Salt Fork forced Westville to commit 11 turnovers with 10 coming in the first three quarters. The Storm took advantage of the miscues early scoring nine points off of turnovers in the first half. Ross Learnard scored all nine of his points off of turnovers and had four steals. Alec Dutton also scored nine.

Westville sophomore Kyle Brazas finished with six points and two steals.

The Tigers were dealt a blow at the beginning of the season when 6-foot-5 senior Cody Hill was lost for the year with injury. That forced Westville coach Jeff Millis to start four sophomores and battle through a season of inexperience.

But even with a roster boasting two juniors surrounded by a host of sophomores, the Tigers still managed 13 wins and will return 10 players next season.

The last two seasons Millis started four sophomores were 1989-90 and 91-92. Both teams also finished with 13 wins.

“They were a great group of kids to be around,” Millis said. “I had an enjoyable experience coaching this group of kids. They work hard, they listen, they try to do what you want. If their attitude will stay good and they keep working, they’ll succeed. You’re always successful if you have a good attitude and you work hard. I don’t care what your record is.

“That’s what success in life is, is working hard and having a good attitude. I’ve had teams that have won a lot of games that I didn’t think were successful. And I’ve had some teams that didn’t win many games that I thought were hugely successful. I think your definition of success, you have to be careful with sometimes. Your definition of success can be measured in many ways.”

While the Tigers will have to wait until next year, the Storm will look for more success in tonight’s 8:10 p.m. semifinal contest against St. Joseph-Ogden. Bismarck-Henning will play in the first semifinal against Watseka which is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.